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Grain and soy futures pressured by trade war fears

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Wheat set for weekly gains on lower Russian export outlook

(Updates for market close)

By Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO, March 14 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures

ticked lower on Friday as concerns over trade conflicts

disrupting trade flows and abundant South American supplies

weighed on prices, analysts said.

Soy edged up in a choppy trade, and wheat eased, though

expectations of lower wheat exports from Russia have kept a

bottom on prices.

Grain markets faced pressure this week following the

implementation of revised U.S. tariffs on all steel and

aluminium imports, which prompted the European Union and Canada

to announce retaliatory duties on several U.S. goods.

"It's a lot of choppiness," Dan Basse, president of

AgResource, said. "We can't sustain a trend not knowing what the

next big tariff headline will be, and people are not willing to

take on any risk."

Chicago Board of Trade most-active corn settled down

6-3/4 cents to $4.58-1/2 a bushel, with pressure also coming

from index funds liquidating their long positions, Basse said.

Wheat settled down 5-1/2 cents to $5.57 a bushel and

most-active soybean contract settled up 5-1/4 cents to

$10.16 per bushel.

Lower estimates for corn and soy production in key supplier

Argentina may have lent some support to corn and soy prices,

though a massive soy harvest in Brazil will likely continue to

pressure prices, analysts said.

Russia's IKAR consultancy said on Thursday that it had

cut its baseline 2024/25 wheat export forecast to around 41

million tons from 42.5 million tons.

Low U.S. wheat prices and an ongoing export quota in major

wheat producer Russia have boosted buying interest in U.S.

wheat.

"U.S. wheat is the cheapest in the world and priced under

the Black Sea, and we're seeing an increase in sales," Basse

said.